A series of coordinated bomb attacks that hit more than a dozen Iraqi
cities left more than 50 dead and 200 injured on Tuesday. The nature
of the attacks pointed to al-Qaeda (AQ) as the perpetrator of the
deadly bombings, but no one as yet has claimed responsibility.

The bombings occurred on the ninth anniversary of the American
invasion — an anniversary also marked by the Shiite firebrand Moqtada
al-Sadr and his followers as more than a million of them poured into
the streets of Basra in a massive show of force.

The attacks also appeared to be linked to preparations for an Arab
League summit to be held in Baghdad on March 29 and it is thought by
some experts that al-Qaeda was trying to embarrass the government of
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in advance of the meeting. Maliki’s
government has invested a nearly $500 million in security and
hospitality arrangements and sees the summit as crucial to the future
of Iraq.

The chaos sown by the attacks appeared to be designed to further
inflame sectarian tensions and hasten the fracture of the Iraqi
government. That process seemed to be well underway as the leader of
the Kurdish bloc, Kurdish Regional Government President Massoud
Barzani, accused Baghdad of “ideological terrorism” and stopped just
short of declaring independence for the three northern provinces
where Kurds have set up an autonomous, self-governing enclave.

The bombings targeted cities and provinces across the length and
breadth of Iraq. Many of the bombings bore the unmistakable earmarks
of al-Qaeda. In Karbala, where loss of life was the greatest, a car
bomb exploded at a checkpoint for Shiite pilgrims entering the holy
city. When police and emergency services showed up to treat the
injured from the first blast, another car bomb exploded that caused
even more casualties. All told, authorities say that 13 people were
killed and another 48 were wounded.

There was also a twin bomb attack in the northern city of Kirkuk near
police headquarters that killed 9 and injured more than 40. Another
single car bomb targeted the provincial government building killing 4
more.

The roll call of cities and provinces that suffered the attacks would
be familiar to many Americans who remember the sectarian strife
during the civil war. In Fallujah, a pregnant woman was killed and
her 6-year-old child wounded by bombs terrorists planted around a
house belonging to a police officer. In Saddam’s hometown of Tikrit,
a car bombing outside of a school wounded 4 teachers. In Baghdad, a
car bomb exploded in front of the Foreign Ministry building, and in
the Monsour district, three policemen were killed by gunmen as they
stood guard outside of a Christian church. The governor of Anbar
province narrowly escaped when a car bomb went off as his motorcade
passed. A bodyguard was killed.

The Telegraph reports that diplomats have noticed a pattern of
serious attacks every 5 or 6 weeks, indicating that AQ does not have
sufficient manpower or resources to sustain daily attacks.

“We strongly condemn the attacks on innocent civilians in Iraq,” said
White House spokesman Jay Carney, adding that violence in the country
was at historic lows and that the Iraqis were up to maintaining
security.

That may be so. But the timing of the attacks have not been lost on
the Iraqi government, nor the international community. Prime Minister
Maliki is determined that the Arab League summit will go off as
planned and without incident. To that end, Iraq will deploy a medium-
sized army of police, army, and special forces in Bagdhad for the
summit. More than 26,000 security personnel will man barricades and
checkpoints, and patrol the streets. The airport will be closed
beginning March 26 and remain shuttered until after the summit is
over. A curfew is likely to be announced for the duration of the
meeting.

Maliki is staking a lot on this summit. It is viewed by the Iraqi
government as something of a coming out party, proof that Iraq has
emerged from a decade of war, occupation, and chaos. Once a leader in
the Arab community, since the fall of Saddam the Sunni leaders of all
other Arab nations have looked with suspicion on the Shiite-led Iraqi
government. Maliki feels it important to repair relations with Saudi
Arabia and other Gulf countries, as well as the other Sunni-led
nations both because he needs the capital that other nations can
invest in Iraq, as well as wanting to improve Iraq’s own security.
While relations with Iran have improved (and Iranian infiltration in
the Iraqi government is a big problem), Maliki does not want to
isolate Iraq by fully embracing Iran. Iraq is one of only three Arab
countries that has not condemned President Assad of Syria for his
crackdown, although they bowed to pressure from other Arab states and
did not invite Syria to the conclave. Maliki wishes to use the
improvement of relations with other Arab states as a security blanket
in order to fend off Iran.

Syria is expected to be topic number one at the conference, and it is
believed that Prime Minister Maliki will soft pedal his support for
Assad in favor of Arab unity. Also, he has reached out to Kuwait to
try to mend relations, still strained after the 1991 Iraqi invasion.
Last month, Maliki visited Kuwait and agreed to settle a long
standing dispute over some aircraft stolen by Saddam. It was a small
but significant step and Kuwait is reciprocating by attending the
conference. Saudi Arabia and Bahrain will not be attending, citing
security concerns.

Prime Minister Maliki also sees domestic political benefits flowing
from the summit. He has invited representatives of all political
blocs to attend the opening session, a point of great prestige for
members of his wobbly coalition. But Maliki has yet to strike a power
sharing deal with the second largest grouping in parliament, the
Sunni-led Iraqiya bloc, despite negotiating for more than a year. And
the radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has built an independent
power base of the poor and downtrodden that threatens Maliki’s claim
to speak for the Shiites.

Police in Basra estimate that between 700,000 and a million Sadrites
flooded the streets, protesting against the policies of the
government that have failed to improve the lives of the millions of
desperately poor Iraqis. One protestor from Sadr City echoed the
sentiments of most of the crowd, saying, “Lawmakers are looking out
for themselves while the state ignores the poor. We want the
attention of officials who are busy with their own affairs in their
comfortable chairs and armored vehicles.”

While al-Sadr might be considered a political nuisance (his party
only has 32 members of parliament out of 275), a real threat to the
Iraqi state is brewing to the north. The Kurds are tired of Baghdad
interfering in their efforts to secure help in exploiting its oil
resources and the situation is coming to a head. Kurdish President
Massoud Barzani, in what was billed as a major speech, all but
threatened to declare independence from Baghdad if Maliki’s
government kept dragging its heels on oil rights and other
issues. “It is time to say that enough is enough, because Iraq is
headed toward an abyss, and a small group of people are about to pull
Iraq into a dictatorship,” Barzani said. He also stated that Iraq was
facing “a serious crisis and this situation absolutely is not
acceptable to us.”

Maliki already has a Kurdish headache along the Turkish border where
Kurdish terrorists strike inside Turkey and then scurry back to Iraq.
Turkey has taken matters into its own hands several times, violating
Iraqi sovereignty by launching counter terror strikes across the
border into Iraqi territory. And now Barzani is threatening to
realize the long-standing dream of the Kurdish people and declare
independence. Given all that he has on his plate, Maliki can ill
afford to risk a permanent fracture.

But the sectarian strife that the bombings were designed to foment
may do the job for him. Iraq doesn’t have a government as much as it
has a disunified, quarreling, unhappy mob of politicians out to line
their own pockets and devil take the rest. Nothing gets done. Nothing
is ever decided. The Sunnis walk out of the government at seemingly
the drop of a hat. Even within the Shiite coalition there are strains
as witnessed by the Sadrites and the radical cleric’s street thugs.